Abhishek Avtans अभिषेक अवतंस
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Abhishek Avtans अभिषेक अवतंस
@avtansa.bsky.social
Lecturer (Indic language/s), Leiden University (Netherlands), KHS (Agra), JNU (Delhi), Hindi, Urdu, Linguistics, Lit, भाषा, भाषाविज्ञान, साहित्य 🇮🇳 🇳🇱 ✍️🚲
https://avtans.com/2022/06/26/words-in/
Thanks to our robust vaccination programs, we have eradicated this deadly disease. Some years ago, I wrote a short essay for Himal on words from Indian languages describing vaccination, pandemic, quarantine etc.
www.himalmag.com/culture/dial...
Translating a pandemic: The impact of COVID-19 terminology on Southasian languages
This article is part of Dialectical, a Himal series that explores Southasia’s languages, their connections and shared histories. ***A lot has changed since the
www.himalmag.com
October 30, 2025 at 10:54 AM
I also learned that the word Hindi/Urdu चेचक chechak is derived from the Turkish 🇹🇷 word çiçek which originally meant flower, and later came to denote smallpox because of the red blisters it caused on the skin.
October 30, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Tāk/Tāq in Hindi/Urdu originally meant a recess, niche, a ledge or shelf on a wall. In Arabic & Persian tāq ताक़ means an arch or recess. Arabic tāq (arch) was re-borrowed by Persian, which brought it to Indian languages. Arabic had earlier borrowed tāg (arch) from Middle Persian
October 26, 2025 at 6:58 AM
In Yoga this posture is known as sukhāsana सुखासन (easy pose).
October 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
It is one of the most popular sitting style in India while having food on the ground level (non table settings). In Urdu pālthi is called चार ज़ानू बैठना chār zānū baiṭhnā. In Marathi it is called मांडी घालून बसणे māṇḍī ghālūn basṇe (māṇḍī means thighs).
October 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Sitting cross-legged on one’s thighs is called pālathī पालथी in Hindi. This word traces its origin in Sanskrit paryastikā पर्यस्तिका (sitting upon the hams). In Hindi the usual verbs attached with pālthī are mārnā मारना (to strike) and bāndhnā बाँधना (to tie).
October 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Interestingly, our body even has a muscle named after this posture, the sartorius muscle, running along the length of the thigh. Its name comes from the Latin sartor, meaning “tailor,” which is why it’s often called the “tailor’s muscle.”
October 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
The name goes back centuries, to a time when tailors would sit cross-legged on their work tables while sewing garments by hand.
This position kept the fabric from slipping to the floor and made handling heavier materials much easier.
October 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Some activists also include India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in the milk tea alliance. The recent uprising in Nepal against the authoritarian and nepotist regime has followed similar patterns to those of Hong Kong, Thailand, and Myanmar.
October 9, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Perhaps the only Indian connection is that Lea & Perrins concocted a mix of regular fish (anchovy) sauce with tamarind chutney made with molasses (शीरा shīrā). This could be their Bengal connection, as variants of Indian tamarind chutney had already reached Britain by that time.
October 6, 2025 at 4:00 PM
So in Hindi विजयादशमी vijayādashamī and in Bengali বিজয়াদশমী bijaẏādaśamī is the correct spelling of the festival otherwise known as दशहरा daśaharā. [4]
October 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
3. श्रवण नक्षत्र की भाद्र शुक्ल एकादशी या द्वादशी जो बुधवार को हो Bhadra Shukla Ekadashi or Dwadashi of Shravan Nakshatra, which falls on Wednesday
4. दिन के 15 मुहूर्त में से ग्यारहवाँ मुहूर्त। The eleventh of the 15 auspicious times of the day. [3]
October 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
These are the dates and times which are traditionally considered विजया
1. आश्विन शुक्ल दशमी Ashwin Shukla Dashami
2. पुष्य नक्षत्र की फाल्गुन (कृष्ण या शुक्ल) द्वादशी Phalguna (Krishna or Shukla) Dwadashi of Pushya Nakshatra...[2]
October 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
In some places, hunters even bring the Nīlakaṇṭh bird to the public for a glimpse, earning rewards. After this, household tools and weapons are worshipped with pumpkins and bottle gourd flowers. 3/3
October 2, 2025 at 9:30 AM
On this day, people in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh provinces consider it auspicious to see the नीलकण्ठ Nīlakaṇṭh (Indian roller bird). Therefore, they travel far and wide to see it. 2/3
October 2, 2025 at 9:30 AM